Former Boeing employee who reported manufacturing process failures found dead
A former Boeing employee known for voicing concerns about the company’s production standards was found dead in the United States.
John Barnett had worked for the U.S. aircraft manufacturer for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017.
In the days prior to his death, he had been testifying in a lawsuit against the company after reporting irregularities.
Boeing expressed sadness at Barnett’s passing.
The Charleston County Coroner’s Officer confirmed his death to the BBC on Monday.
He said the 62-year-old man had died of a “self-inflicted” wound on March 9 and that police were investigating.
Since 2010, Barnett worked as quality manager at the North Charleston plant that manufactures the 787 Dreamliner.
In 2019, Barnett told the BBC that workers under pressure had been deliberately installing substandard aircraft parts on the production line.
Barnett said that shortly after starting work in South Carolina, he became concerned that the urgency to produce new aircraft would rush the assembly process and jeopardize safety, something the company denied.
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He later recounted that workers had not followed procedures to trace components through the factory, which would have allowed defective components to disappear.
He also claimed that, in some cases, poor quality parts had even been taken from scrap containers and installed on aircraft under construction to avoid delays in the production line.
In addition, he noted that tests conducted on the emergency oxygen systems to be installed on the 787 showed a failure rate of 25%, meaning that one in four might not deploy in an actual emergency.
Barnett said he had alerted management of his concern, but no action had been taken.
Boeing denied his assertions. However, a 2017 review by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed some of Barnett’s concerns.
It determined that the location of at least 53 “defective” parts at the factory were unknown and considered missing. Boeing was ordered to take corrective action.
On the issue of oxygen cylinders, the company said that in 2017 it had “identified some oxygen cylinders received from the supplier that did not deploy correctly.” But it denied that any of them were actually installed on any aircraft.
Legal battle
After retiring, Barnett took a lengthy legal action against the company.
He accused it of denigrating his reputation and hindering his career because of the problems he had pointed out, accusations Boeing rejected.
At the time of his death, Barnett was in Charleston for questioning in connection with the case.
Last week he gave a formal deposition before Boeing’s lawyers, before being cross-examined by his own counsel.
He was scheduled to undergo further questioning on Saturday. When he did not appear, he was sought at his hotel.
He was later found dead in his van in the hotel parking lot.
His death comes at a time when production standards at both Boeing and its key supplier Spirit Aerosystems are under intense scrutiny.
With information from the BBC
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